If my sources are correct, Nancy Pelosi was planning on exploding the world for some reason until Paulson came in and was like, "I love you, will you marry me?" and her San Fransican-values heart melted like gay butter.

Ok, enough nonsense. I'm not sorry to see the bailout get held up for a day or two, if only to keep it directly in the news cycle. Whether or not that will stoke public outrage remains to be seen, but the more attention focused on the lack of oversight in that bill, the better.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

So, if there is one silver lining to be found in the coming economic catastrophe, I think I've found it. I'm hoping that bin Ladin is reading the headlines and thinking to himself, "you know what? I'll just let this play itself out. Yeah, yeah, 'death to America,' but you know what, I'm kind of pooped."

At this point, America has become Willy Loman. You know he's gonna die before too long. America is just wandering around going, "I'm very well liked." No, you're not. You never were. Also, George Washington, the author of America, banged Marilyn Monroe, so, you know, it's a pretty good analogy.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

"The first thing to understand is that a bailout plan doesn’t have to cost anywhere close to $700 billion, so long as it’s designed well. The $700 billion number that you see everywhere is an estimate of how much the government would spend to buy deteriorating assets now held by banks. Eventually, the government will turn around and sell these assets, for a price almost certain to be greater than zero."

Hear that kids? "Almost certain to be greater than zero," certainly inspires confidence in me. You can't make that promise to other people. Mom, I know your birthday is coming up in a little bit, and trust me, your present will almost certainly be better than nothing. But, depending on the economy, it might be nothing. (I'll get you something nice, Mom)

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Bush administration, as represented by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury, are pushing for a 700 Billion dollar buyup of trash mortgages, hoping to get the bill through Congress by the end of the week. I have nowhere near the brain power to explain where the looming economic disaster came from or what to do about it. That's what makes it so fun! But I do know what I likes, and I don't likes this, from Section 8 of the bill we have to pass like right now guys:

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

Hello! King Hank Paulson will rule us benevolently for the next 4 months, then either Obama or McCain will be installed as a primarily ceremonial head-of-state, and his Treasury Sec. will take the throne from Paulson and shred what little monies we have left.

700 Billion dollars is a lot of money, and it belongs to us. You know, taxpayers. Guess who's getting it? People who are rich and educated enough to think they're better than everyone else and could gamble with vast, unthinkable amounts of money to reap huge rewards with no risk. And now we're giving it to some oligarch to pass around like a blunt. And no one can review his decisions. It's perfect.

I just started reading Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe, and let me tell you, this is the perfect week to pick that book up. I'm only a little bit into it, but it's hard to mourn the "end of Wall Street" when you see Wolfe's brutal characterization of the self-identified Masters-of-the-Universe.

I think what makes me smile the most is thinking about all the Econ majors who wanted to make 6 figure bonuses 2 years out of college, because although they will still be filthy rich, they'll have to spend a lot of time hearing about how great it used to be. I think that will make them unhappy. So there is at least one silver-lining to the upcoming catastrophe.

Monday, September 8, 2008

"There was much in it that I did not understand, in some ways I did not even like it, but I recongnized it immediately as a state of affairs worth fighting for."-George Orwell, describing his affinity with the Anarchist Militia in the Spanish Civil War, from Homage to Catalonia.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Monday, September 1, 2008

Today was a pretty crazy day in St. Paul. Lot's of arrests, lots of pepper spray. Amy Goodman and two of her producers from Democracy Now got arrested. Here's some photos of the day. Thoughts to come later.